MWCC No. 00 07131-G-8634
JEWELL S. WINGO CLAIMANT
VS
DOLGENCORP, INC.
EMPLOYER
SELF INSURED
REPRESENTING CLAIMANT:
Honorable Gregory D. Keenum, Attorney at Law, Booneville, Mississippi
REPRESENTING DEFENDANT:
Honorable Joseph W. McDowell, Attorney at Law, Jackson, Mississippi
FULL COMMISSION ORDER
The Commission heard the above styled cause on July 2, 2001 in the offices of the Mississippi Workers' Compensation Commission, Jackson, Mississippi on the Employer/Carrier's "Petition for Review", by the Full Commission.
Having heard-the arguments offered on behalf of the parties and having thoroughly studied the record and the applicable law, the Commission affirms the "Order of Administrative Judge" dated February 5, 2001.
SO ORDERED, this the 7th day of August, 2001.
MISSISSIPPI WORKERS' COMPENSATION COMMISSION
BEN BARRETT SMITH
BARNEY SCHOBY
LYDIA QUARLES
COMMISSIONERS
ATTEST:
Jo Ann McDonald, Secretary
MISSISSIPPI WORKERS' COMPENSATION COMMISSION
MWCC Nos. 00 00545-G-7920-B & 00 07131-G-8634-B
JEWELL S. WINGO CLAIMANT
VS
DOLGENCORP, INC.
EMPLOYER
SELF INSURED
APPEARING FOR CLAIMANT:
Gregory D. Keenum, Esquire, Booneville, Mississippi
APPEARING FOR EMPLOYER:
Franklin Williams, Esquire, Oxford, Mississippi
ORDER OF ADMINISTRATIVE JUDGE
On March 20, 2000, the claimant filed two petitions to controvert alleging that on June 21, 1999, and December 6, 1999, she received work-related injuries. The self-insured employer denied the compensability of the alleged injuries, provided only some initial medical services and supplies related to the June 1999 accident and paid no workers' compensation disability benefits. A hearing was held in the Alcom County Courthouse in Corinth, Mississippi, on January 24, 2001.
STIPULATIONS
The parties stipulated as follows:
1. The claimant, Jewell S. Wingo, while working for Dolgencorp, Inc. (commonly known as Dollar General) was exposed to carbon monoxide at work on June 21. 1999. and she was taken to the North Mississippi Medical Center, luka Hospital, for initial treatment and subsequently received follow-up treatment from Dr. Scott Segars.
2. The employer has agreed to pay for the medical services rendered at the luka Hospital and by Dr. Scott Segars related to the June 21, 1999, accident.
3. The employer is responsible for the medical charges of Dr. Michael Boland to whom the employer sent the claimant for a medical examination.
4. The claimant's average weekly wage on June 21 and December 6. 1999, was $110.00.
ISSUES
The issues to be resolved by the Administrative Judge are as follows:
I. The extent of disability resulting from the carbon monoxide incident on June 21, 1999;
2. Whether the claimant received a work-related injury to her neck on December 9, 1999, while stocking merchandise at work; and
3. If so, the extent of disability resulting from the December 9, 1999, work injury; and
4. For what medical services and supplies the employer is responsible.
REVIEW OF THE EVIDENCE
The claimant, Jewell S. Wingo. is sixty-three years old and a resident of luka. Mississippi. She is married: her husband is disabled because of rheumatoid arthritis. Mrs. Wingo has three children, ages 39, 37, and 35, and ten grandchildren. For many years. she did not work outside the home. Mrs. Wingo' s father, mother and sister have had heart problems. Mrs. Wingo testified at the hearing in a very articulate manner.
Mrs. Wingo went to the eleventh grade in school in Luka, and she does not have a GED certificate or any additional education. In the past, Mrs. Wingo worked for Fred's, doing the same type work she later did at Dollar General Store.
For about four years, Mrs. Wingo worked at the Dollar General Store in luka. She said she worked thirty-two hours a week and earned a wage of $5.70 an hour. Her stipulated average weekly wage was $110.00, however.
On June 21, 1999, a worker buffed the floors at the Dollar General Store with a buffing machine with a butane bottle on it. Mrs. Wingo was working at the front of the store as a cashier. She developed a headache and was sick at her stomach, and other employees talked about having headaches. Later that day they learned there was carbon monoxide coming from the buffing machine. Mrs. Wingo and other employees were transported to the emergency room at the North Mississippi Medical Center in luka. Mrs. Wingo stayed at the hospital overnight.
Subsequently Mrs. Wingo went to Dr. Scott Segars. her family physician in luka. at the recommendation of the emergency room physician. Dr. Segars did some testing and referred her to Dr. Nanni Pidikiti, heart specialist in Corinth, Mississippi. Dr. Pidikitti found her blood pressure to be too high. and Dr. Pidikiti admitted her to the hospital. Dr. Pidikiti did some testing, then released her back to Dr. Segars.
Mrs. Wingo said she had never had any heart problems before the carbon monoxide incident on June 21, 1999. She had just had a regular check up by Dr. Segars in May or June 1999. She developed a fast heart beating after the accident of June 21, 1999. She testified she still has the fast heart beating but her blood pressure is under control. She continues to see Dr. Segars. Additionally, the employer sent her to Dr. Michael Boland, cardiologist in Tupelo, for an employer's medical evaluation.
On Monday, December 6, 1999, at about 10:30 a.m., Mrs. Wingo was working at the Dollar General Store. She was putting up groceries from the middle of a long dolly. She reached up across the long dolly to pick up a case of corn. Another case of groceries started to slip off the dolly, and the dolly began to. roll and pulled her over with her left arm. She did not fall but was pulled over. When she straightened up she felt a ~real hot flash' of pain down the left side of her neck into her left shoulder and left arm. The manager of the store was in the back, so no one saw the accident, but Mrs. Wingo told the manager she hurt herself.
Because she was already scheduled to be off Tuesday through Thursday, Mrs. Wingo did not work the next day. She did not return to work Friday but went to see her attorne\ at his office in Booneville. While at her attorney's office, she felt the same flash of pain in her left side. Then she went to the emergency room at the Booneville hospital. The emergency room physician recommended she have an MM and follow up with Dr. Assaf at the tuka Hospital. Dr. Assaf told her she had a tumor and referred her to Dr. Thomas McDonald, neurosurgeon in Tupelo, and she saw Dr. McDonald that day. Dr. McDonald did surgery the next day, Saturday morning, December II, 1999. Mrs. Wingo testified Dr. McDonald told her it was a blood clot.
According to Mrs. Wingo, she still has trouble with her arm and she thinks she needs additional therapy on her neck as recommended by Dr. Segars. She has not done the therapy recommended by Dr. Segars recently because she has no insurance to pay for it. She did undergo about ten weeks of physical therapy at the Iuka Hospital.
Mrs. Wingo's last day of work at Dollar General Store was Monday, December 6, 1999. She testified that she has been unable to return to work, and she thinks she will always have trouble with her neck. She said she tries to do her housework but cannot do everything she once did. She said she had planned to work part-time in order to have health insurance until she became sixty-five and eligible for Medicare. (She was sixty-two in June and December 1999.) She has not looked for work anywhere.
The medical records of the luka Hospital were received into evidence. The records indicate Mrs. Wingo was admitted to the hospital by Dr. Scott Segars on June 21, 1999, following inhalation of gas at work. Mrs. Wingo complained of severe headache. nausea. and chest pain. On June 22, 199. a progress report indicates "Headache is gone. No further nausea or dizziness. States has had some chest tightness & heart running away..." (Exhibit 9. p. 21). Dr. Segars discharged her that day, diagnosing carbon monoxide poisoning.
The medical records of Dr. Nanni Pidikiti, cardiologist in Corinth, were received into evidence. Dr. Pidikiti saw Jewell Wingo on July 8, 1999. when she was admitted to the Magnolia Regional Health Center in Corinth. Dr. Pidikiti noted Mrs. Wingo was exposed to carbon monoxide while working at the Dollar General Store in luka and she reported having palpitations and chest tightness ever since then. He said her blood pressure was 222/122. He admitted her to the coronary care unit for medication and cardiac catheterization with bilateral renal angiograms.
On July 9. 1999, Dr. Pidikiti found her to have normal coronary arteries and renal arteries but mild mitral valve prolapse.1 He advised Mrs. Wingo to have an echocardiogram at Dr. Segars' office.
The medical records of Dr. Michael Boland, cardiologist in Tupelo, were received complaint of "chest pressure." Dr. Boland reviewed her recent test studies. He diagnosed:
4) Essential hypertension borderline controlled.
(Exhibit 3. p. 5). He said additionally. "I know of no relationship
between coronary heart disease, coronary artery spasm, other cardiac symptoms,
and remote carbon monoxide poisoning." (Exhibit 3, p. 5). On August 7,
1999, Dr. Boland reported to Dr. Segars:
(Exhibit 3, p. 9).
The medical records of the Baptist Memorial Hospital in Booneville were admitted into evidence. Mrs. Wingo presented to the emergency room on December 9. 1999. with complaints of left arm and neck pain. She told the triage nurse that the problem started one week before and had been on and off since then. The emergency room physician advised Mrs. Wingo to go to the Magnolia Hospital in Corinth the next morning for an MRI and report to Dr. Assaf at luka Hospital for an appointment later.
The medical records of the Magnolia Regional Health Center in Corinth were received into evidence. These records contain the diagnostic imaging report of the MRL of Mrs. Wingo's cervical spine taken on December 10, 1999. The radiologist diagnosed:
2. Left paracentral disc protrusion C5-6.
3. Cervical spondylosis.
The medical records of the North Mississippi Medical Center in Tupelo,
Mississippi, were received into evidence. The records indicate Mrs. Wingo
was admitted to the hospital on December 10, 1999, and discharged December
16, 1999. She underwent a left
hemilaminectomy at levels C2-C4 and evacuation of epidural cervical
hematoma.2 Dr. Thomas J. McDonald, neurosurgeon
in Tupelo, did the surgery, and his notes are in the hospital records.
DECISION
Upon consideration ofthe pleadings, pretrial statements, stipulations,
lay and medical evidence, demeanor of the witness at the hearing, and the
applicable law, the Administrative Judge tinds as follows:
1. The claimant, Jewell S. Wingo, suffered an admittedly compensable, work-related accident on June 21, 1999, when she was exposed to carbon monoxide at work at Dollar General Store in luka and she and other employees were taken to the luka Hospital for treatment.2. There is no evidence to indicate that Mrs. Wingo lost more than a day or two from work because of the carbon monoxide incident on June 21, 1999, so she is not entitled to temporary disability benefits.
3. The medical evidence does not support a claim for permanent disability resulting from the carbon monoxide incident. There is nothing in Dr. Pidikiti's notes to indicate that her cardiac problem, that is, mild mitral valve prolapse, was caused by the carbon monoxide incident at work. Dr. Boland specifically stated that the problems were not related to her employment or the carbon monoxide poisoning.
4. It is undisputed that Jewell Wingo suffered a flash of pain in the left side of her neck while at work at the Dollar General Store on Monday, December 6, 1999, when she was stocking merchandise for the employer. She had the same experience while at her attorney's office the following Friday, December 10, 1999. She went to the hospital that same Friday. and on Saturday she undenvent surgery for evacuation of a cervical epidural hematoma, a blood clot in her neck. There is, however, no medical evidence to relate the hematoma and resulting surgery to her employment or an accident while stocking merchandise on December 6, 1999. A cervical epidural hematoma or blood clot is a medical condition that appears to be a purely personal condition and not a risk of the workplace. Mrs. Wingo has not met the burden of proof required to connect this condition to her employment at Dollar General Store, and the employer is not responsible for workers' compensation benefits for this condition and the medical treatment relating to it.
5. The medical evidence does not establish that a permanent occupational disability resulted from the December 1999 neck problem or surgery.
6. Mrs. Wingo's average weekly wage on both June21 and December 6, 1999, was $110.00, as stipulated by the parties.
7. The employer is responsible for the medical services and supplies rendered by or at the order ofthe luka Hospital and Dr. Scott Segars in June 1999 and by Dr. Nanni Pidikiti in July 1999 relating to the carbon monoxide poisoning incident ofJune 21, 1999. and Mrs. Wingo's complaints afterward, and for the medical evaluation and related diagnostic testing by Dr. Michael Boland in August 1999. Mrs. Wingo complained of fast heart beat and tightness in her chest immediately after the June 21, 1999, carbon monoxide poisoning. It was not determined until the medical evaluation by Dr. Boland in August 1999 that the heart or chest symptoms were not related to the carbon monoxide poisoning incident at work, and the July 1999 evaluation by Dr. Pidikiti was just another part of the follow-up medical care resulting from the June 21, 1999, work accident for which the employer is liable. Dr. Boland was selected by the employer for an employer's medical evaluation, and they are responsible for his charges. The employer is not responsible for any medical services or supplies rendered by Dr. Segars or Pidikiti after July 1999.
IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that the employer provide the medical
services and supplies rendered by the luka Hospital, and by or at the order
of Dr. Scott Segars and Dr. Nanni Pidikiti in June and July 1999, relating
to the carbon monoxide poisoning incident of June 21, 1999, and for the
employer's medical evaluation and related diagnostic testing by Dr. Michael
Boland in August 1999, all pursuant to Mississippi Code Annotated §
71-3-15 (1995), General Rule 12, and the Medical Fee Schedule.
SO ORDERED this the 5th day of February, 2001.
LINDA A. THOMPSON
ADMINISTRATIVE JUDGE
ATTEST:
Jo Ann McDonald, Commission Secretary
1 The On-line Medical Dictionary defines "mitral valve prolapse" as "a systolic clock-murmur syndrome, floppy-valve syndrome and billowing mitral leaflet syndrome. A common, but highly variable (most individuals are asymptomatic), clinical syndrome that has been described in up to 7% of all females in the 14 to 30 age group. There is also an increased familial incidence suggesting an autosomal dominant form of inheritance. Treatment often includes the avoidance of stimulants (caffeine, nicotine, decongestants) and the use of a beta-blocker medication in select cases."
2 The On-line Medical Dictionary defines Thaematoma" as ~a localised collection of blood. usually clotted, in an organ, space or tissue, due to a break in the wall of a blood vessel. '~Epidural haematoma" is defined as ~accumulation of blood in the epidural space, due to damage to the middle meningeal artery and producing compression of the dura mater and thus compression of the brain. Unless evacuated, it may result in herniation through the tentorium and death."